Further updates

Please follow the links at the sidebar for updated versions of Guthlac A & B, as well as Daniel (now corrected too), Christ III, and St. Christopher. Coming soon, a new theme and appearance for the poems so they don't look so temporary.

Progress on the move

An update on the move.

Andreas, Juliana, and Christ I & II are now live on the new pages. The texts there have been thoroughly proofread, corrected, and updated, so if you're looking for the latest version of these translations, check there. The links on the sidebar for the individual texts have been updated to send you to the proper site.

New Location for the ASNPP

The Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project translations are in the process of being transferred to their new home:

Here

Please be patient as I get everything moved over and reformatted, which will take a while to get just right.

Christ III finit

Here are the final few lines of the Final Judgment. They need work, and will improve over time, but the first draft is fully online.

Whatever am I going to do with myself? There's only Judith left to do among the narrative poems, and after that just a hell of a lot of revision and editing to do.

Information on the ASNPP poems' new location will be coming soon, in the next few weeks.

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He will be wretched who wishes to commit crimes.
so that the guilty man must be separated from his Shaper
at the Day of Judgment, downwards into death,
under the kindred of hell in that hot fire, within a prison of flame,
where they will stretch out their limbs for the binding
and the burning and the scourging in torment for their sins.
Then the Holy Spirit with lock down hell, the greatest
murder-house through the might of God,
filled with fire and an army of demons at the word of the King. (1615b-26a)

That will be the greatest killing for devils and men!
That is a joyless house, where none can ever loose
their cold chains. They broke the commands of the King,
the bright words of Scripture—therefore they must abide
in everlasting night, a sorrow without end, stained
by criminal deeds, suffering forever, those that
despised the majesty of the Heavenly Realm. (1626b-33)

Then the chosen will bear before Christ their bright treasures.
Their glory will endure at Doomsday, keeping their joy
of a mild life with God, which will be permitted
to all of the holy in the realm of heaven.
That is the homeland that will never be completed,
but there the sinless will ever from now
ward over the happiness, loving the Lord,
the Beloved Warden of Life, wound up in light,
wrapped up in peace, parted from sorrows,
magnified in pleasures, made dear to the Lord.
Forever and always they will brook with bliss
the camaraderie of the angels, bright with mildness,
and love the Guardian of the People. The Father
will hold power over all and maintain the multitude of the holy. (1634-48)

Where there is the singing of angels, bliss of the blessed—
there is the precious countenance of the Lord, lighter
than the sun to every one of the overjoyed.
There is the love of beloved, and life without death’s end,
a happy multitude of humans, youth without age,
the majesty of the heavenly host, health without pain,
for the right-performing, rest without struggle,
for the doom-blessed, day without darkness,
brightness full of splendor, bliss without sorrow,
peace between friends from now on without envy,
for the blessed in the skies, love without malice
in the company of the holy. There will be neither
hunger nor thirst, neither sleep nor dull bed,
nor the burning of the sun, neither chill nor care,
but instead there the company of the blessed will always
enjoy the grace of the King, the most shining hosts
the glory amid the Lord. (1649-64)

Closing in on Christ III

He shall swing the victory-blade with his right hand
so that into the deep dale the devils shall fall
into the darksome flame, a host of the sinful
under the lap of the earth, the fated ghasts
into that stead of the wrathful, a shoal of the stained,
the ruin of the accursed in that house of suffering,
the death-hall of demons. None of them will seek
the Lord’s memory afterwards, nor will they break
from their sin where they are stained with crimes,
bound up in flame, enduring death. The penalty for sin
shall be manifestly present—that is an eternal death. (1530-40)

Nor can the hot portion burn away the sins
from the kindred of the damned in eternity,
to the width of life, the stain from their souls
but there the deep, bottomless pit shall be fed
and fostered by the dreary spirits in the shadows,
and it will kindle them with an olden flame, and with the terrible frost,
and with angry worms and with torments innumerable,
and with fearsome deadly jaws, it shall destroy these people. (1541-48)

We can appreciate this and pronounce at once
speaking the truth, that he has lost the Warden of Souls,
the Wisdom of Life, he who cares not now whether
his soul be wretched or blessed, where he must
eternally be home-fixed after its hence-going.
Nor is he anxious about committing a sin,
this fool-headed man, nor does he have any regret at all
in his heart that the Holy Spirit is lost to him
through his crimes in this loaned time. (1549-58)

Then the evil-doer will stand, fearful before the Lord,
darkened at his doom, and guilty to death,
cursed for his stains—the pledge-breaker
will be filled with fire. Unworthy of life,
menaced with terror, in the presence of God
pale and without beauty, he has the hue of the damned,
the living symbol of evil. Then the children of crimes
will shed their tears and cry out for their sins—
when the time for that is no more—
yet they do their spirits aid too late,
after the Wielder of Multitudes no longer
wishes to be concerned how these sin-scathers
grieve sorely their formerly treasured possessions
in that patent hour. That hour of suffering
is not granted to those people so that they might
locate their leechdom there, who does not wish
to obtain the cure for their health now
so long as they are living here. (1559-74)

There will be no sorrow shown there by any good man,
in no evil man well-being, but everyone present there
will be weighed according to their singular desert.
Therefore he must hurry, who wishes to own
life before the Lord, while light and soul
are seen together in him. Let him attend eagerly
to the appearance of his soul in the desire of God,
and be aware of his words and deeds,
practices and thoughts, so long as thus world,
hurrying through the shadows, is allowed to shine for him,
so that he does not lose it in this loaned time,
his joyous profit and the count of his days,
and the beauty of his works and the reward of glory
that the Heaven-King in that holy hour,
truth-fast, will grant as the recompense of victory
to those who have assiduously obeyed him in their souls. (1575-90)

Then heaven and hell will be filled
with the children of men, the souls of humankind.
The bottom shall swallow up the enemies of God,
the flickering flame shall torment hate-minded men,
the greatest scathers, and will never let them
go from there into joy as a soul-saving,
yet the burning shall bind them into a fixed mob,
torturing the children of crime. Wicked it seems to me
that these soul-bearing men did not wish to care for
in their hearts, when they performed evil acts,
what the Sovereign had established as an punishment
for that hateful people. Then life and death shall swill down souls. (1591-1603a)

The house of torturing shall be opened and revealed
against the oath-breakers; crime-eager men must fill it
with their swart souls. Then as punishment for sins,
the school of the guilty shall become separated,
the humiliated from the holy, in that harmful inferno.
There thieves and mighty offenders, liars and rapists
must never expect life, and ill-swearers shall observe
the deserts of their crime, harsh and deadly fierce.
Then hell shall pluck the pledge-less pack
the Wielder shall grant them guilty to the fiends—
they shall suffer a deadly bale, stained and terrifying. (1603b-15a)

Plans/the future for the ASNPP

Hello all, So things are changing quickly around here.

First up, is that a relocation is coming up soon. Rutgers is providing webspace and a Wordpress interface for my translation work, so things will be shifting over there in the next few months. I'll keep you posted on the URL when I get started on the transition, but this site will be live for a while until all the poems are moved over.

Secondly, the book proposals for the ASNPP translations are drafted and will be ready to send out in the next few months. What that means for the status of the poems which will be included in the two volumes I proposed is uncertain. Certainly if either of the proposals are accepted, then the press will probably prefer that the online versions of those poems be taken down. This is a long-term change, so I wouldn't expect anything to move there for the next year or so.

The process of putting the proposals together has only proven to me that there is merit in the project, and that the final steps of revision of the poems will finally push them into the place where they should be. I'm excited to see where these creations will turn, and somewhat in awe of the challenge that converting these blog entries into books will present.

Almost done with Christ III!

Just one more section of the Final Judgment to go, about 135 lines left. Whew! Won't this world end already?

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“For what reason did you besmirch uncleanly
with wicked lusts and foul sins that tabernacle,
that beloved house that I hallowed inside you as my joy?
Why did you sully with shame by sin-working
the body-home which I released for myself
from the embrace of enemies, and forbad it crime?
For what reason do you hang me more heavily
with your hands upon the cross than you once hanged me?
Listen! This seems more severe to me! (1480-88)

“Now it is more grievous to me, the cross of your sins,
which I am unwillingly affixed upon, than the other was
which I once ascended, of my own desire—
when your woe most forpined me at heart,
then I tugged you out from hell, provided that
you would afterwards keep yourself out—
I was a beggar in this world so that you would have plenty in heaven.
I was miserable in your homeland so that you would be blessed in mine.
For these things you knew not any thanks in your heart to your Savior. (1489-98)

“I entrusted you to cheer my brothers well
in this worldly realm with the plenty that I gave
to you on this earth, to help the destitute.
You have followed that feebly, forbidding
the needy from being allowed to come inside
under your roof, and you drew away every bit
through the hardness of your heart, of garment
from the naked, or food from the meatless.
Although in my name they begged for water,
for themselves, weary and poor in health,
tormented for a drink, without means,
eaten up with thirst, you boldly withdrew it from them.
You did not seek out the suffering, or one sweet word
did you speak to them in comfort, so that they might
take up a state of mind more free. All those things you did to me,
as an injury to the Heaven-King. For that you must suffer
severely torment forever, enduring an exile among devils.” (1499-1514)

Then over all those there, a terrifying sentence
filled with pain, the Warden of Victories himself,
will pronounce forth over that fated folk,
saying unto that horde of sinful souls:
“Begone now, accursed, shorn by your will
from the pleasures of angels, into the eternal fire
that was made ready for Satan and his siblings,
for the Devil and his dark school, hot and fearsome.
In that terrible place you must tumble!” (1515-23)

They will not be able to ignore the command
of the Heaven-King then, deprived of their powers.
They must fall quickly into the grim ground,
those who struggled before against God.
The guard of the realm will be savage then and mighty,
wrathful and terrifying. Nor can any enemy
abide, present on these earthly ways. (1524-29)

Final Judgment XVI, pt. 1

“It was not for pride, but I endured in my youth
misery and merciless body-pain, so that through it
I would be more like you, and you could become
more like my image, separated from evil.
And for the love of humankind my head suffered
harmful blows, my cheek and face often endured
the spit spat from the mouths of pitiless wicked-doers.
Likewise they blended together for me
a bitter drink, unsweet, of vinegar and gall.
Then before the people I received the malice of my foes,
they persecuted me with sins, they recked not of their feud,
and they beat me with scourges. All that pain I suffered for you
with a humble mind, the scorn and the sharp words.
Then they ringed my head about with a hard, sharp wreath,
cruelly they crammed it on—it was wrought of thorns.
Then I was hanged upon a lofty tree, fixed upon the rood.
Next they poured out blood from my side with a sharpened spear,
gore upon the ground, so that you may be delivered
from the constraining power of the devil.
Then I, without sin, suffered torment and evil affliction,
until alone I gave up my living soul from my body-home. (1428-53)

“Now see these mortal wounds that you inflicted before
into my hands and my feet just the same, through them
I hung, severely fastened—you can see here, manifest to this day,
in my side this bloody wound. How there was
an uneven account made between us there!
I took on your agony so that you would be allowed
to enjoy my native realm, blessed and prosperous.
And in my death I dearly purchased you enduring life
so that you would be allowed to abide afterwards,
free from blemish, and beautiful in that light.
My flesh-home lay, engraved into the earth,
hidden down below in burial, that which never harmed a soul,
so that you would be able to exist upwards,
brightly in the heavens, mighty among the angels. (1454-68)

“For what reason did you abandon that shining life
that I bargained for faithfully and lovingly with my own body,
downcast as a help to you? Why did you become
so bereft of sense that you knew no thankfulness
to the Wielder for your redemption?
I shall ask nothing for my bitter death
which I suffered for you, but repay me your life,
because I once gave you mine in ransom
through brutal torment. I remand your life
which you have criminally killed off
with wicked deeds, much to your own shame. (1469-79)

Christ III, section xv

With the conclusion of Christ III, section xv, we are officially within two sections of completion. Hooray!

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“When I had shaped you to be so lovely and made you
so pleasant, and gave to you the prosperity
so that you might command the creatures of the world,
when that I established you upon the fair earth
in order to enjoy Paradise-plain, its radiant fruiting riches,
blazing with blooms, then you wished not to follow
the living word, but you broke my commandments
at the word of your slayer. You heeded further
that criminal fiend, that scathing scather, than to your Shaper. (1386-95)

“Now I shall omit from that olden narrative
how you first conceived of evil and by wicked works
relinquished what I given you to your advantage.
When I had granted you so many good things
and it seemed in your heart too few blessings
in all these things, if you were not allowed to have
plenty of power, even as much as God—
then you were thrown out far away from that joy,
to the delight of devils, now an alien. (1396-1404)

“The beauty of Paradise-plain you had to renounce
by force, sad-minded the homeland of the spirit,
gloomy and miserable, separated from every joy and glory,
and then you were driven out into the dark world,
where afterwards you have suffered mighty toil
a great while, a painful and protracted struggle
and dark death, and after your hence-going,
you must collapse humiliated into hell, without helpers. (1405-13)

“Then I rued that my handiwork should pass
into the power of demons, and the stock of mankind
see a wicked killing, should try out the unknown earth,
a painful journey. Then I came down myself,
a son into its mother, though her maidenhead
stayed entirely whole. I alone was born
as a comfort to the people. I was wound by human hands,
covered up with poor clothing, and laid down in darkness,
wound in dun swaddling. Listen! I endured this for the world’s sake!
I seemed insignificant to the sons of men, lying on the hard stones,
child-young in my crib. By this I meant to distance you from death,
the bale of hot hell, so that you would be allowed to shine holy
and blessed in this eternal life, because I suffered this hardship.” (1414-27)